Monorail car and the like



Feb. 13, 1934 H WALTER 4 1,947,119

MONORAIL CAR AND THE LIKE Filed May 14, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR 1'. ATTORNEY.

Feb. 13, 1934. WALTER MONORAIL CAR AND THE LIKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 14, 1932 INVENTOR Vou/s Wm TEF? RNEY OFFICE MGNGRAIL CAR AND THE LIKE Hollis Walter, Baldwin, N. Y., assignor to Sperry Gyroscope Company, Inc., Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 14, 1932. Serial No. 611,309

6 Claims. (Cl. 105-141) This invention relates to means for stabilizing dom type and yieldingly centralized by springs unstable vehicles, such as mono-rail cars or other i about its precession axis 16, or merely a simple automotive vehicles. According to my invention or gyro pendulum. On tilting of the car, the I make use of a gyroscope or gyroscopes for mainfirst mentioned type of gyroscope will process t aining the stability, but supplement the same against the action of the springs and moves the with a means for laterally shifting the relative trolley or brush 17 onto one or the other of the positions of the center of gravity of the car body contacts 18, 18', thereby driving the precession with respect to the rail or supporting truck so that motor in the proper direction to accelerate the car may be maintained in a normally balanced precession and stop the tilting movement and condition. Another object of the invention is to restore the car to its normal position in conimprove upon the type of gyroscopic apparatus junction with my center of gravity shifting device heretofore proposed for stabilizing mono-rail cars hereinafter described. and the like. In order to maintain the normal balance of the Referring to the drawings showing one form my car and prevent the gyroscope from working over 5 invention may assume, to one side, I provide a means whereby the cen-' Fig. 1 is a vertical section through a mono-rail ter of gravity of the car is shifted with respect to car body with my invention applied thereto. the track. Preferably this is accomplished by Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through one end providing a slidable mounting between the car of the car body, the stabilizing apparatus being body and truck. As shown, there is mounted 20 shown in plan. across the car body a threaded shaft 21 which is Fig. 3 is a wiring diagram showing the interjournaled in bearings 22, 22 near the two sides connection between the several parts of the of the car. Said shaft may be rotated from a apparatus. I motor 23 through reduction gearing 24. The

Fig. i is an end elevation, partly in section, of motor is preferably placed in circuit with a trol- 5 the mono-rail car shown in Fig. l. ley or brush 25 on the gyroscope 5, which co- Fig. 5 is a section through the supporting truck operates with fixed contacts 26 and 26' on a and car body taken at right angles to Fig. l. frame 9. Motor 23, therefore, is driven in one The mono-rail car shown in the drawings is of direction'or the other as the gyroscope 5 precesses the double truck variety having trucks 1 and 2 through more than a predetermined angle (equal supporting the car body 3 near each end above to the width of insulated section 41) to either side the single rail 4; Within the car body is mounted of its central position. Threaded on shaft 21 is the main stabilizing gyroscope 5, said gyroscope a heavy nut or sleeve 27 which is secured to a being mounted. on a V rt ca Spinning iS 6 n plate 28, the bottom portion 28 of which is a rotor bearing frame '7, which in turn is pivoted rounded to form a bolster pin journaled in the 5, on transversely extending tlunnifllfls 3 fo pi'eo stop of the truck 1. The bottom frame of the car sion f rward y nd b ckw dly- The trunni n has a transverse slot 29 therein through which 90 8 and 8' are Sh wn a joulnalled in bearings 9 the plate 28 projects, the bottom of the car restrising from the floor of the car. ing on top of the transversely extending bar It is a well recognized fact that in order to resting on top of the truck and formingashoulder gyroscopically stabilize an unstable object, such on pin 28'. It will readily be seen, therefore, that as amono-railcar, that the precession of the gyupon rotation of the shaft 21 the car body is 5 roscope must be forced or accelerated in order to shifted laterally with respect to the truck along exert a positive righting torque on the car instead plate 30 and hence the center of gravity is shifted of merely a damping torque such as is exerted by with respect to the single rail 4.

I a ship stabilizer. To this end aprecession motor Preferably the reduction gearing 24 and the 10 is coupled to the gyroscope about its precespitch of the screw 21 are such that the shifting sion axis 8 through gearing 11. Spring applied, of the body is slow so that only relatively small magnetically released brakes 12, 12 are shown movements taken place in one direction or the on the shaft 13 of the motor for quickly stopping other as the gyroscope precesses back and forth 5 the same at the end of each precessional moveequally on both sides. In case, however, the gyment. Procession motor 10 is preferably govroscope tends to process more on one side than the erned by a much smaller control or auxiliary gyother, the car body will be gradually shifted over roscope 14 which may be mounted in a box 15 to correct the balance and equal movements of I near the roof of the car (see Figs. 1 and 3). Said the gyroscope restored. In Fig. 4 auxiliary sup- 56 control gyroscope may be of the two degree of freeporting blocks 32 and 33 are shown in dotted lines illustrating how the car may be supported by auxiliary slide rollers 34 and 35 when the gyroscopic apparatus is not running. If desired, laterally shifting means may be provided for each truck 1 and 1 as indicated by the motor 23 and shaft 21' in Figs. land 3.

The advantages of my invention over existing devices become most evident when the vehicle is rounding a curve. In such event the ordinary gyroscopic stabilizer for mono-rail cars will act to hold the car in a vertical position on the curve, thus throwing a much greater load on the gyroscope than would be necessary if the car were inclined toward the center of the curve in accordance with the known laws of banking. In my device, on the other hand, the center of gravity of the car will be automatically shifted on a curve so as to balance the car against the action of centrifugal force. In other words, on a curve the re sultant direction of the combined acceleration force of gravity and centrifugal force changes. This causes the gyroscope 5 to process much more on one side than on the other which results in shifting the center of gravity of the car to correct this condition. My mono-rail device could, therefore, successfully negotiate curves at high speeds without danger and since only one rail or line of road contact is used no banking of the track or road is required.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have herein described the principle and operation of my invention, together with the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other means. Also, while it is designed to use the various features and elements in the combination and relations described, some of these may be altered and others omitted without interfering with the more general results outlined, and the invention extends to such use. Thus it is obvious that the same principles as herein outlined may be applied to any bicycle car or vehicle.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a mono-rail car, means for shifting lateraly the center of gravity thereof with respect to the rail support, a stabilizing gyroscope moun ed on the car for precession upon tilting of the car, means for accelerating the precession, and

means responsive to a preponderance of precessional movements of said gyroscope to one side or the other for operating said shifting means in a direction to restore equilibrium.

2. In a bicycle car, a stabilizing gyroscope mounted on the car for precession upon tilting of the car, means for accelerating said precession including an auxiliary gyroscope and a precession motor connected to said stabilizing gyroscope and governed by said auxiliary gyroscope and means for shifting the center of gravity of said car with reference to its support controlled by one of said gyroscopes.

3. In a bicycle car, a stabilizing yroscope mounted on the car for precession upon tilting of the car, means for accelerating said precession including a control gyroscope and a precession motor connected to said stabilizing gyroscope and governed by said control gyroscope, and means responsive to a preponderance of precessional movement of said stabilizing gyroscope in one direction for shifting the center of gravity of the car to restore equilibrium.

4. In a mono-rail car, a mono-rail truck, a car body adapted to be supported thereon, and means responsive to tilting of said body for shifting it laterally with respect to said truck to maintain the center of gravity thereof directly above the rail.

5. In a bicycle vehicle, the combination with the car body and truck, of means for shifting laterally said body with respect to said truck, a stabilizing gyroscope on said body, and means responsive to unequal precession of said gyroscope to each side of its normal or centralized position for actuating said shifting means to maintain equilibrium and synchronism between said gyroscope and vehicle.

6. In a bicycle vehicle, the combination with the car body and truck, of means for shifting laterally said body with respect to said truck, a stabilizing gyroscope on said body, an auxiliary gyroscope for accelerating the precession of the stabilizing gyroscope upon tilting of the vehicle, and means responsive to unequal precession of said stabilizing gyroscope to each side of its normal or centralized position for actuating said shifting means to maintain equilibrium and synchronism between said gyroscope and vehicle.

HOLLIS WALTER. 

